ZARIAH POV
"Wait—" I croaked, but the knife was already coming down.
The zombie lunged from the corner.
I didn't even see where it came from. One second the man was raising his blade to kill me, the next a gray hand grabbed his arm and yanked him sideways.
He cursed and spun, his knife flashing. The zombie's head hit the floor with a wet thunk.
But while he was distracted, another one crawled through the broken door.
Straight toward me.
I tried to move. My body wouldn't listen. Too weak. Too dehydrated. Too done.
The zombie's mouth opened wide. Teeth yellow and broken. Breath like rotting meat.
It bit down on my good arm.
Pain exploded through me—white-hot and sharp. I screamed, the sound tearing from my throat.
The zombie's teeth sank deeper. I felt my skin tear. Felt warm blood gush down my arm.
Infected. I was infected again. For real this time.
No power in the world could save me now.
The man shouted something. His knife whistled through the air.
But it was too late.
I was dead.
Except—
Heat bloomed in my chest. Not the tiny warmth from before. This was fire. Burning. Consuming.
My healing power activated on its own, flooding through my veins like liquid lightning.
The zombie jerked back, releasing my arm. It made a sound—confused, almost surprised.
I watched, my vision clearing, as the wound on my arm sealed shut. Not slowly like before. Fast. The torn flesh knitting together like invisible thread was sewing it.
The bite disappeared completely in seconds.
"Impossible," the man breathed.
But something else was happening.
Black veins crawled up my arm from where the bite had been. Not gray like infection. Pure black, like someone had drawn on my skin with ink. They spread across my wrist, my elbow, creeping toward my shoulder like dark lightning frozen in place.
And it hurt.
Not my arm—that felt fine. But something inside me. Something vital. Like a piece of my life had been ripped away.
The zombie that bit me staggered backward. Its gray skin flickered. The white film over its eyes cleared just a little—enough that I could see brown underneath.
Human brown.
"No way," the man whispered.
The zombie opened its mouth. Not to bite. To speak.
"I... I..." The voice was rough, broken, barely human. But it was trying. Actually trying to talk.
Then it collapsed. Just fell like someone cut its strings.
Dead. Really dead this time.
My system screen exploded in my vision, words scrolling so fast I could barely read them.
[ERROR! ERROR! ERROR!]
[HIDDEN FUNCTION DETECTED]
[ANALYZING...]
[ANALYSIS COMPLETE]
The screen went black. Then new words appeared, glowing bright gold instead of the dull gray from before.
[RESTORATION SYSTEM - TRUE NATURE REVEALED]
[ACTUAL RANK: SSS]
[PRIMARY ABILITY: HUMANITY RESTORATION]
[SECONDARY FUNCTION: INFECTION REVERSAL]
[WARNING: EACH RESTORATION REQUIRES USER LIFE FORCE]
[CURRENT LIFE FORCE: 94%]
I stared at the words. Read them again. Then a third time.
SSS-rank. The highest possible rank. Not F-rank trash. Not useless.
I was the cure.
The actual cure.
"What did you just do?" The man crouched in front of me, his silver eyes wide. Not threatening anymore. Shocked. "That zombie—you cured it?"
I looked at my arm. The black veins pulsed gently, like a second heartbeat.
"I think..." My voice was stronger now, the healing having fixed more than just the bite. "I think I reversed the infection."
"That's impossible. Once someone's infected, they're gone. Everyone knows that."
"Then explain this." I held up my arm, showing him the black marks.
He reached out, his fingers hovering just above my skin. Not touching. Like he was afraid.
"Your system," he said slowly. "What rank did it say you were?"
"F-rank. At first." I pulled up my screen, showing him. "But now..."
His eyes went huge when he saw the SSS glowing there.
"Do you understand what this means?" His voice dropped low, urgent. "You can cure them. Actually cure the infection. You're not just a healer—you're the only hope humanity has left."
The weight of those words crushed down on me.
Two weeks ago, I was a scientist trying to cure a disease. Now I was the cure. Walking, talking, bleeding the cure.
"The black veins," I said quietly. "The system said each cure costs life force. I lost six percent from one zombie."
"How many can you cure before—"
"Before it kills me?" I laughed, the sound bitter. "Math was never my best subject, but I'd guess about sixteen. Maybe seventeen if I'm lucky."
His jaw tightened. "Then we'll have to make them count."
"We?"
He stood, offering me his hand. "I'm Kael. And you're coming with me."
"Why would I—"
"Because in about thirty seconds, more of those things are going to flood this hallway. I can kill them. You can barely stand. So unless you want to die in this storage room after surviving two weeks alone, I suggest you take my hand."
I looked at his outstretched palm. At the silver eyes that saw me as valuable instead of weak.
At the first person in two weeks who hadn't abandoned me.
My fingers closed around his.
His skin was ice cold. Wrong. Like touching a corpse.
But his grip was steady as he pulled me to my feet.
"Can you walk?"
"I can try."
"Good enough."
We made it three steps before I heard them. Moans echoing from the stairwell. Lots of them. Getting closer.
"How many zombies can you kill?" I asked.
Kael's eyes started glowing brighter. Silver light leaked from them like mist.
"Let's find out."
Shadows exploded from his body. Living darkness that writhed and moved like it had a mind of its own. The shadows raced down the hallway toward the moaning sounds.
Screams. Wet crunches. Silence.
I stared at him. "What are you?"
"SSS-rank Necromancer." His smile was sharp. Dangerous. "I control death itself."
"And I reverse it." The irony made me want to laugh. Or cry. Maybe both.
"Opposite sides of the same coin." He looked at me with an expression I couldn't read. "My system's been screaming at me since I found you. Calling you an anomaly. Something that shouldn't exist."
"Sorry to disappoint."
"You misunderstand." His grip on my hand tightened. "My system never screams. It's been silent since I awakened. But you... you make it react. Like you're important. Like you're—"
A door slammed open three floors above us. Heavy footsteps pounded down the stairs.
Multiple sets. Running fast.
"Living people," Kael said, his head tilting. "Armed. Dangerous."
"How do you know?"
"I can feel heartbeats. There are eight of them." His eyes narrowed. "And they're hunting something."
The footsteps got closer.
A voice echoed down: "The scanner picked up two signatures! SSS-rank and unknown! Genesis wants them both alive!"
My blood turned to ice.
Genesis BioTech. The company that created the virus. The company that wanted to own the cure.
They'd found me.
And they weren't here to rescue me.
Kael's shadows writhed faster, agitated. "Can you run?"
"Not fast enough."
"Then hold on."
He swept me up like I weighed nothing. His arms were freezing cold, but solid. Safe.
"What are you doing?"
"What I do best." His smile turned deadly. "Surviving."
The shadows wrapped around us both like a cocoon.
And then we were falling through darkness itself.